The Pavilion at Ole Miss seats 9,500 fans. The building’s signature is its standing seam metal roof, which was manufactured by ACI Building Systems. Photos: Professional Roofing Contractors Inc.

The Pavilion at Ole Miss is a multi-purpose facility that is most famous for hosting the University of Mississippi’s basketball team. The arena cost approximately $97 million to build and seats 9,500 fans. The building’s signature arched metal panel roof was designed to complement the curved entrance and blend in with other architectural features on the university’s campus in Oxford, Miss.

Professional Roofing Contractors of Shelbyville, Tenn., was originally called in to assist with estimating the cost of the structure’s main roof, as well as a membrane roof system on the lower level. Upon final bid results, the decision was made to proceed with a standing seam metal roof on the upper portion of the building and a PVC roof on the lower level. Professional Roofing was the successful low roof bidder and selected ACI Building Systems to provide the standing seam roof materials and Sika Sarnafil to provide the PVC membrane roof materials. Professional Roofing installed both systems, with Jose Martinez as the crew leader for the membrane roofing portion and Dale Jones in charge of the metal roofing crew.

Larry W. Price, president of Professional Roofing, and Jonathan Price, the company’s vice president and the production manager on the project, oversaw the installation of 79,500 square feet of standing seam metal roofing and 46,500 square feet of PVC. There wasn’t much room for staging material on the jobsite, which didn’t give the company much room to maneuver. For the main roof, bundles of pre-cut metal panels were trailered in by ACI and loaded to the roof by crane.

“Logistics were complicated,” notes Larry Price. “Just getting a big enough crane in there and lifting the panels was difficult. Once we got the panels on the roof and they were situated, the roofers could just move ahead.”

Photos: Professional Roofing Contractors Inc.

Panels were installed with a 2-inch-high, double-lock standing seam, which was completed using a self-propelled mechanical seamer from D.I. Roof Seamers. The metal panels were curved into place by crews on the roof, who installed them over the staggered metal deck after it was covered with two 2-inch layers of polyiso insulation and Carlisle’s WIP 300 HT self-adhered underlayment. “The metal deck was segmented,” notes Jonathan Price. “We had to bridge some of those sections to make a nice, smooth curve.”

The scope of work included a large gutter at the roof edge. The gutter was 3 feet high and 2 feet wide, and crews from Professional Roofing flashed the gutter and lined it with the same Sika Sarnafil PVC used on the lower roof.

On the mezzanine level, crews installed a vapor barrier and mechanically fastened two 2-inch layers of polyiso insulation, as well as some tapered insulation for drainage. Once that work was completed, the 60-mil PVC was applied.

“Everything went pretty smoothly,” says Jonathan Price. “Logistics are usually tight on a new construction project, but once we adjusted to that, we just had to cope with the weather.”

“We had a lot of hot days and some rainy days,” Larry Price remembers. “Mississippi in the summer can get hot, hot, hot—and when it’s not hot, it’s raining.”

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July/August 2018

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About Roofing

Roofing is a national publication that unravels, investigates and analyzes how to properly design, install and maintain a roof system. Through the voices of professionals in the field, Roofing’s editorial provides a unique perspective.